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| I recently purchased a foreclosed home that had been vacant a long time, which meant no lawn care other than the basic scalp the yard every few weeks with a riding mower so the weeds aren't too high! The previous owner took all the shrubs with him & left large patches of landscape fabric & mulch over clay (minimal if any topsoil under the fabric.
I want to pretty much start from scratch, & it's so bad, I don't have much choice. Soil testing indicates the whole yard is clay, with a pH of 9, & very low nitrogen, phosphorous, & potash. I know its pretty drastic, but I'm thinking about using roundup to kill everything, spreading gypsum & sulphur over it, tilling it all about 6" down, then adding topsoil & grass seed. Any thoughts, advice, suggestions would be appreciated! |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by john_in_sc z7, upstate SC (My Page) on Mon, Apr 2, 12 at 17:39
| It would help if you filled in some details... like where you live.. What sort of grass you plan to grow.... What sort of soil testing did you have done? What are the specific results (Post a pic of the soil test results if you have them)... Etc.... Like.. say.... the type of grass you might grow in Hawaii might be different than what you might grow in Alaska.... Thanks |
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- Posted by dchall_san_antonio 8 San Antonio (My Page) on Mon, Apr 2, 12 at 21:08
| Suggestions: Don't do anything you plan to do until you answer John's questions. Some of what you're planning will ruin your lawn and some of it may ruin your lawn. If you have pictures, please post. We can help you figure out how to do that. Also explain the test that shows you have clay. Who did the testing? Clay looks like the stuff you got in art class in school to make "sculptures." Almost nobody has that kind of soil. Search this forum or the Internet for a soil test called a jar test. You can evaluate your soil for sand, silt, and clay by yourself. And a pH of 9 is nearly impossible. Pure limestone is 8. You'd have to have sodium hydroxide in the soil to go above that. I may sound a little cranky but I really am here to help. It's just that some of what you are saying seems like it's too bad to be true. |
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- Posted by jill_wingett (My Page) on Tue, Apr 3, 12 at 11:15
| Here's a link to pictures of the area under the landscape fabric. You can see the clover bordering it & the lack of topsoil |
Here is a link that might be useful: Soil pics
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- Posted by dchall_san_antonio 8 San Antonio (My Page) on Wed, Apr 4, 12 at 0:55
| Hi Jill. I don't mean to shout, but WHERE DO YOU LIVE? That is the most important thing you can tell us right now. Oh and all the other questions we asked. Your clover looks exceptional. I would seriously consider letting that spread for this season. Clover does wonders for the soil. You say you don't have any topsoil. What you have is solarized topsoil with little stones in it. It can recover nicely with a covering of mulch for as long as you can stand it. Use as much as you can afford for as long as you can last. The soil underneath the mulch will recover and be excellent in a matter of weeks. If you dig underneath the current mulched areas, it should look pretty nice. Those are great pictures. Are they taken with the new iPhone camera everyone is raving about? Very nice.
If you set your mower to the highest setting, the clover will choke out the dandelions in there, too. Clover is a wonder plant in my opinion. Very lush looking. |
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- Posted by jill_wingett none (My Page) on Wed, Apr 4, 12 at 8:11
| I'm sorry I must have only previewed the previous message & not posted it! I live in Indianapolis, zone 5 B. Most of the residential grass here is a combination fescue/bluegrass, which is what I will probably use. I only have a couple of trees at the back edge of the lawn, so the only shade is from the house, which faces east. I did the jar test last week, & it still hasn't all settled. It looks like 5% sand, 10% silt with 10% clear water at the top leaving the remaining 75% clay. Also did the rolling test & had a strip about 4" long before it broke. I sent my soil samples to Purdue's extension & am waiting on results. In the meantime I just used a test kit from the hardware store. The pH color change was considerably darker than the color indicating an 8. Nitrogen & phosphorous had barely any color, indicating very low amounts of either & potash was right in the middle. Another indicator is drainage. There are a number of holes in the yard from where the previous owner removed the scrubs. When it rains they fill quickly with water (about 6") and take a good 10-12 hours to drain. Its sticky when it's wet & like trying to dig into concrete when its dry. I'm still raking up the left behind rubber mulch, but it hasn't rained for 4 days & it's still wet under those areas. I'm not opposed to clover & mulch in the back yard for this year, but would like to have grass in the front. Thanks for your responses. |
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